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hippos doing what?

No it does NOT involve hippos. Ugh. Think of a hot version of Sangria, heavy on the cinnamon. If you want the history on this yummy beverage, click here

Here’s what I do at home.

Set crock pot on counter.

Turn on high.

Pour in 2 gallons of apple juice

Find cheap red wine, pour in at least 2 cups. You can do more depending on your tastes

Taste.

Cut up a seedless orange in slices. Remove any seeds, but leave the rinds on. Add to crock pot. You can also add some orange juice as well. But be careful not to add too much orange juice. It can send the whole tone of the mixture over too much towards the sangria side. Sangria is fine…for summer. This isn’t summertime.

Add spices to taste. Spices to choose from are:

Cinnamon STICKS (never add ground spices to a drink mixture. All they will do is float to the top and get in people’s teeth) If you can’t wait for the cinnamon sticks to work their slow magic just add some Candy Red Hots to the pot. They will dissolve and give you the taste you were looking for.

Whole Cloves. Here again, please stay away from the ground spices. A trick to keep the cloves from floating into your way when you are trying to ladle out your punch is to stick them into the rind of the orange slices when you originally put the orange slices into the crock pot.

Sugar. Not too much. this is supposed to be a refreshing cup of cheer, not a sickly sweet dessert in a cup.

Stir.

Taste.

Add more stuff till you get a balance of taste that you find appealing.

Taste some more.

Oh heck, go get a mug and have a bit more.

Now go take your mug and sit down on the porch or in front of your fire. There, that’s much better isn’t it?

and that’s how you serve it. Hot and unpretentious. This is a “kick off your shoes, stretch your feet towards the fire, curl up on the couch” type of beverage.

There are some side benefits to having Hippocras in a crock pot on your counter:

1. Your house will smell heavenly!

2. And if you make sure to turn the crock pot on and let the contents heat all the way up at least once a day, you can keep this going, on the counter all season long. Yes, you heard me. All season long. I normally start a pot of this stuff in early November and keep it going till the end of January. Just add more liquid (apple juice, wine, orange juice) depending on what it needs. This means you have an excuse to taste test it at least once a day.

3. You are ALWAYS ready for guests….or at least your house will SMELL ready.

You can also make a “virgin” version of this using just cinnamon tea, apple juice, orange juice and the spices. But I love the warm welcome of a hot mug of wine on a cold fall/winter evening.

Enjoy!

So tell me, what is your “I can’t live through the holidays without THIS” recipe?

The most profound things God ever does in our lives are never convenient. Sometimes God wants us to fight for what He has a mind to give us. Remember, He gave Joshua and the Israelites the Promised Land then told them to go in there and fight for their place in it. Sometimes we have to fight traffic and drive around the church seven times to get to some Promise Land. (Beth Moore)